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Soothing Retreat
2008
Display Until January 6
KitchenBathIdeas.com
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The Perfect Spa Shower
Masterful Tile Mosaics
European-Style Vanities
Water
Colors
The ocean’s shimmering,
shifting blue-green hues
drove the desıgn of this
bath tiled in glass.
Writer: Brian
Kramer
Photographer: Phil
Harvey
Field editor: Sarah
Alba
Blue-green glass tiles cover walls
and this 6-inch-deep ledge that spans
the exterior wall, organizing shower
essentials and providing display space.
BEAUTIFUL BATHS
2008
67
Looking for glass tile? Try our list of manufacturers at
KitchenBathIdeas.com/tilemakers
T
he rolling hills and coarse textures of Santa Clara,
California, have their allure. While most of this home is
built with earthy materials in a Tuscan style common to the
region, the designers of this bath were asked to create something apart—a shimmering, sleek retreat that would feel in
sync with, yet removed from, the home’s overall design. The
task fell to principal architect Michael Rex and project architect Michael Matsuura, who opted to shift focus from land to
sea in the bath. “Everything here had to evoke the feeling of
water, subtly,” Matsuura says.
Rex and Matsuura clad the room in simple square fusedglass tiles, glistening between cool sea green and aqua blue.
All four walls are covered in glass, detailed with a decorative
border design of stepped triangles, grouped into squares to
create small pyramids. “The room could have been straightforward, almost stark, but these accent tiles add nuance,”
Matsuura says. They also enhance the room’s sense of dimension, used in place of traditional molding and framing
on the windows, doors, mirror, and vanity.
For the floors, the architects chose concrete, which has
one important thing in common with glass: Both withstand
getting wet. This suits the room’s most vital connection to
water, which is its entirely open shower—without defining
Opposite: Water is welcome
everywhere in the glass-tiled space,
with an open shower sited near the
soaking tub. Both bathing spaces
make use of the same wall-to-wall
decorative-tile window ledge.
Top: A chaise longue covered in
terry cloth offers a relaxing spot for
reading or grooming.
Above: A sleek chrome tub filler
with a hand shower rises from the
heated concrete tile floor.
BEAUTIFUL BATHS
2008
69
Opposite: The vanity’s cabinetry
is protected from water by a thick
rectangular frame of concrete
stained to match the floor tiles.
Top: Triangular fused-glass
tiles in a ziggurat pattern outline
the mirror, windows, and doorways.
Above: Two vessel sinks echo
the glass tile’s watery hue, but in
a lightly frosted finish to minimize
water spots. Chrome faucets arch
gracefully, adding a sense of fluidity.
70
BEAUTIFUL BATHS
2008
walls, curbs, or curtains. Instead, the bath’s entire floor functions like a large shower pan, gently sloping to a single drain.
Hot water runs through pipes under the floor, helping to
speed drying, warm feet, and minimize steam. Installed in
square tiles and tinted a custom gray-green hue to harmonize with the glass-covered walls, the concrete is slightly
tumbled for textural contrast.
Wood cabinetry is used sparingly and placed out of the
shower’s spray. But the architects compensated by providing
handy storage on a 6-inch-deep ledge that spans the length
of the 17×8-foot room. Embellished with tiles in the ziggurat
motif, the feature links the shower, tub, and lounging area.
“The ledge is integrated into the room, so at first you don’t
notice it,” Matsuura says, noting that vases, candles, and bath
essentials on the ledge almost look as if they’re floating.
Even the vanity received an untraditional treatment:
A dramatic frame of slab concrete shields maple-veneer
drawers in the 8-foot-long piece. Modeled after a Parsons
table, the thick shell was poured as a single dramatic slab in
the same tint as the floor. Such consistency in color and
materials helps this bath keep its focus. Its beauty is in its
function: water, water everywhere.
RESOURCES BEGIN ON PAGE 100
!"
HIDDEN TECHNOLOGY enhances
a sense of serenity. Electric radiant heat
warms this mirror to dissipate steam.
A flat-screen television nestles behind
the two-way glass. Once turned on,
it shines through.
!"